Thomas Hawk posted a photo:
Thomas Hawk posted a photo:
South Korean farmers are suffering in record heat, as Hong Kong reports its highest ever temperature and Japan swelters through newly designated ‘cruelly hot’ days
In a potato field in Yanggu county, 80 miles (130km) north-east of Seoul, Lee Sang-hyuk dug into the soil and found nothing worth saving.
A week earlier the crop, located in Gangwon province, had looked fine. Now the potatoes came up soft and collapsing, “like boiled potatoes”, spoiled by heat that had turned the ground into something closer to an oven.
Continue reading...After 25 years away, can Coventry make their return to the top division stick under Frank Lampard?
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 18th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 1st (Championship)
Continue reading...Centre-back closes on move to La Liga side
Hull break their transfer record to sign Nobel Mendy
Tottenham have reached an agreement with Atlético Madrid over the sale of captain Cristian Romero.
Romero was given the green light by the club and Roberto De Zerbi to depart Spurs this summer after a turbulent 2025-26 campaign where he served four separate suspensions.
Continue reading...After person is spotted disposing of suspicious device, police with K-9 unit halt major roadway for two hours
A stretch of a major Washington DC roadway was brought to a standstill during Wednesday morning’s rush hour after the city’s bomb squad responded to a suspicious device – only for police to later identify the object as a sex toy.
The situation unfolded at about 7am as many commuters were on their way to work. Authorities initially told WUSA9 that a witness had reported seeing someone place a suspicious package inside a trash can near the Tenleytown fire station.
Continue reading...
“The wind is my nemesis!” says Jennifer Latour, and rightly so. In her sculptural assemblages, single flowers or small clusters of blooms sprout from tree branches or thick stems, appearing like otherworldly forms standing in the landscape. A soft breeze could topple the Vancouver-based artist’s ephemeral works, scattering their delicate petals and spindly shoots before she has the chance to snap a photo.
These fleeting moments are preserved in Latour’s Bound Species series, which she began during lockdown by piecing together objects found around her home into unconventional, ikebana-style compositions. “During this time, I started having a recurring dream of giant flowers growing around me with multiple species of other flowers growing off one stem. I draw a lot of inspiration from my dreams, and this was something I had to test out in real life,” she tells us.

After a few trials, the process clicked. She ideated on the ways different colors and shapes might puzzle together into a sort of hybrid character and envisioned photographing on location, presenting the unorthodox arrangements in stunning, natural settings. When travel became possible, she jumped at the opportunity to bring the sculptures outdoors. That’s when she encountered the wind. “I quickly discovered how much more difficult this was,” she says. “It takes so much more patience and time to make my sculptures out in the wild but all that much more satisfying when it works out!”
Today, Latour continues to venture outdoors and often sources materials from local garden centers, flower shops, and even the occasional grocery store, should the botanicals be locally grown. She assembles each piece by hand, connecting stem to stem in a way that evokes “the interconnectedness found in nature, and serves as a reminder that all creatures are bound simultaneously by both their similarities and their differences.”
With trips planned to Arizona and the U.K. seaside in the coming months, the artist will continue to transform colorful specimens into strange, mishmashed forms. “I dream of taking the work all around the world to the most remote and unique locations,” she adds. “It’s a practice I see myself continuing to create and evolve until either my hands or my body stop working.”
Latour’s images are currently on view in two group exhibitions—Where the Seasons Endure at Gallery COA in Montreal and The House and the Forest at Can Balaguer in Palma, Mallorca—and she’s also planning for a solo show in 2027. Keep up with her travels and projects on Instagram.







Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Jennifer Latour Preserves Ephemeral Beauty in Her Otherworldly Botanical Assemblages appeared first on Colossal.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
DEN HAAG (ANP) - Gepensioneerden van de grote pensioenfondsen die al zijn overgestapt naar het nieuwe pensioenstelsel, kunnen volgend jaar mogelijk een bescheiden pensioenverhoging tegemoetzien. Dankzij positieve rendementen hebben Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW), Pensioenfonds Metaal en Techniek (PMT) en bpfBOUW hun financiële situatie in het tweede kwartaal duidelijk verbeterd.
Volgens voorlopige inschattingen van PFZW en bpfBOUW kunnen de uitkeringen straks met ongeveer 0,6 procent worden verhoogd. Metaalfonds PMT gaat op basis van de financiële situatie per eind juni uit van een plus van 0,5 procent. Het gaat wel om een indicatie of momentopname. De daadwerkelijke gevolgen voor pensioenuitkeringen in 2027 worden pas bepaald op basis van de cijfers per eind september.
In het eerste kwartaal ondervonden de fondsen nog fikse hinder van de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten en een gedaalde rente. De pensioenopbouw van bij elkaar miljoenen deelnemers liep hierdoor schade op. In het tweede kwartaal ging het financieel beduidend beter met de fondsen.
Recordstanden aandelenmarkten
Dat is vooral te danken aan recente recordstanden op de aandelenmarkten, mede door het grote enthousiasme bij beleggers over kunstmatige intelligentie. Techbedrijven en chipfondsen zijn daardoor flink in waarde gestegen. Ook is de onrust op de beurzen over de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten wat afgenomen.
"De beleggingsresultaten over dit kwartaal zijn positief, waarbij met name de aandelenrendementen er positief uitspringen", zegt Caspar Vlaar, voorzitter namens de werknemers en pensioengerechtigden bij PMT. "Daarmee is het negatieve effect uit het eerste kwartaal voor de meeste deelnemers grotendeels ingehaald. De verschillen tussen het eerste en tweede kwartaal laten goed zien dat deze resultaten momentopnames zijn."
Buffer
Door de overgang naar het nieuwe pensioenstelsel gingen de pensioenen bij de drie grote fondsen begin dit jaar nog fors omhoog. Dat kwam omdat toen een deel van de buffer werd verdeeld. Zo'n grote verhoging lijkt er volgend jaar hoe dan ook niet in te zitten.
Van de grote fondsen zijn ambtenaren- en onderwijzerspensioenfonds ABP en metalektrofonds PME nog niet over naar het nieuwe stelsel. Zij kwamen vorige maand al met hun kwartaalberichten. ABP hintte erop dat deelnemers van het grootste pensioenfonds van Nederland straks mogelijk een extra pensioenverhoging kunnen verwachten. ABP gaat komende jaarwisseling over naar het nieuwe stelsel.